Critical Times
by a.pal2013
Summary: Allison is dealing with some issues but doesn't want to put any more stress on her mom. Will she be able to deal with it on her own or will she get the help she needs?
1. Chapter 1

**Alright- this is my first Madam Secretary fic & my second story EVER... so please be kind but any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I hope you all enjoy the story. **

**I do not own Madam Secretary.**

Allison POV-

Allison had been feeling off for quite some time. On top of being constantly tired, she didn't seem to have an appetite.

She looked into the mirror. She had only lost ten pounds but when you were already kind of skinny to begin with, ten pounds was really noticeable. Her school uniform looked huge on her, and she needed a lot more makeup to cover up the bags under her eyes. She knew that she should have her parents take her to the doctor, but she really didn't want to bother them. It was just two weeks ago that her family was consumed with worry over her mom when she went missing in Iran. Those hours when no one knew whether she was alive was pure agony.

She thought everything would go back to normal when her mom returned but her mom had been acting really weird. Allison had looked up the symptoms her mom had been displaying and she was almost 100% positive that her mom had PTSD.

Allison headed downstairs and grabbed a banana and a glass of water. Her brother was sitting at the table playing his videogames, Stevie was looking at her cellphone and her parents were just walking down the stairs.

"Just keep them in your pocket if you need them," she heard her father tell her mom.

"I'm not going to need it, I'm fine," she heard her mother softly reply.

Her parents had taken their conversation to the office. Even if Allison wasn't able to hear their conversation, she knew they were talking about her mom's anxiety pills that the doctor had prescribed after her "almost heart attack." She didn't think that her mom had taken any of those pills, which was good. Her mom could be stubborn but she was smart enough to take medication if something warranted it. If her mom's anxiety had gotten really bad, she would've taken them. She also heard her parents talking the other night and apparently her mom had been going to therapy. Allison almost wished that she could see a shrink; to be able to tell someone anything without worrying if she was putting extra stress or pressure on them.

Her glass of water was empty and she got up to refill it.

"Dang, Allison, your shirt looks huge on you," she heard Stevie say to her.

Thinking up an excuse quickly, Allison replied. "Yeah, I think I accidently stretched it out in the wash, it got tangled up with my other clothes."

"This is why you are supposed to separate your clothes when you put them in the laundry," she heard her mother yell from across the room.

"Yes, I've learned my lesson. I will now sort my laundry like my life depends on if," Allison said jokingly. "I've got to get going, I'm meeting with Jessica to go over a group presentation before class," she continued as she grabbed her backpack.

"See you guys later," she said as she headed towards the door. "Have a good day Noodle" "Love you honey," she heard her parents say.

Elizabeth POV-

It was 4:45. "Almost time to head home," she said as she started organizing her desk. Today had seemed to drag on and she just wanted to be at home with her family. She felt that she hadn't really gotten to see them much since she had gotten back from Iran. It seemed lately that her kids were living completely foreign lives at times. Stevie had become encompassed with school life; Jason was busy with his anarchical ideas; and she had no idea what was going on with Allison.

When she had said goodbye to Allison this morning, she seemed okay… a little thin. It was weird that she made up that lame excuse that her uniform stretched in the wash. Although Stevie had seemed convinced, she wasn't fooled for a second.

'Why would she lie about that,' she wondered. She hoped Allison hadn't started one of those crazy diets that all the teens were into. Now she was even more eager to get home. She needed to talk with Allison and get to the bottom of it.

She hit the intercom button.  
"Blake can you come in here please?" she asked.  
Within seconds Blake appeared in the doorway, "Yes Ma'am?" he said.

"I'm going to get going a little early tonight. Is there anything pressing on the schedule tomorrow?" she asked.

"No, ma'am. You have the budget meeting at 11:00, but otherwise your schedule is open," he stated.

"Thank goodness," she said. "The office could use a slow day after the hectic one we had today. Can you have my car pulled up to the front please?"

"Yes, ma'am. It should be waiting for you by the time you get downstairs."

"Thanks Blake," she said as she headed out of the doorway.

Elizabeth POV

As soon as she walked through the door she was hit by the delicious smell of dinner.

"It smells wonderful, what did you make?" she asked.

"I made a vegan stir fry," Stevie responded as she stirred the pan.

"I hope that it tastes as good as it smells, I'm starving." Elizabeth said as she headed to put away her stuff.

Jason and Henry were sitting on the couch playing video games.

"Hey honey? Is Jason kicking your butt?" she teased.

"Oh yes I am!" she heard from Jason.

"I'm only losing by a little," said Henry defensively.

"Hey honey, where's Allison?" she asked as she leaned over the back of the couch.

"I'm pretty sure she's upstairs doing homework." He said not taking his eyes off the video game.

She headed upstairs. 'Ugh, I hate these heels,' she said as she pulled them off. The reason why she wore them, she had no idea.

She knocked on Allison's door. Not hearing any reply, she poked her head in.

"Hey Noodle, can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure, "Allison replied, sitting up from her bed.

Elizabeth crossed the room and sat down.

"I feel like we haven't really had the chance to talk since I came back from Iran," she started. "I wanted to check in with you and see how you are doing."

"I'm doing fine Mom, nothing has really changed." Allison replied looking down at her books.

"Are you sure there's nothing you need to talk to me about: school, friends, One Direction?" she joked.

Allison smiled, "Yes mom, I'm sure. I'm doing well in school, Jessie and I got an A on our history presentation; my friends are the same, and One Direction hasn't been the same since Harry left."

"Haha, well if you are sure," Elizabeth said getting up from the bed. "Dinner seems to be ready, you should come on down and getting something to eat."

"Okay, I've got about two problems of Geometry homework left and then I'll head on down," she said looking back at her books.

Elizabeth looked over at her daughter. She didn't believe anything Allison said, and that worried her. Allison used to be so open with her and now her youngest daughter wasn't being truthful. She didn't want to press Allison further tonight, but hoped to figure it out soon. She turned from where she was in the doorway and walked over and wrapped Allison up in large hug, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

When she let go, she heard Allison, "what was that for?" she asked.

"No reason, I just hadn't done that in a while."

Yes, Elizabeth would need to find out what was going on very soon.

Elizabeth POV-

"I think something is going on with Aly," she said as she turned off the bathroom lights and crossed the room to their bed.

"Why would you say that?" asked Henry.

"Well I hadn't noticed anything before this morning. But Allison's uniform is really baggy on her and Stevie asked about it. Allison gave this obviously fake excuse that her uniform stretched in the wash. I got to thinking about it, and Allison has been looking a lot more tired lately and hasn't been her bubbly self. When I got home tonight I went and just asked her how everything was going in her life and she told me everything was fine, that everything is the same. She was obviously lying to me Henry; she couldn't even look me in the eye," she said concerned.

By this time, Elizabeth's head was swimming with crazy things about what could be troubling Allison.

"I mean what if she's on a crazy crash diet or using drugs?!" she explained.

"Alright honey, calm down. We both know Aly would never use drugs. Remember that time she thought she smelled pot on Jason, she went crazy interrogating him until we found out that Jason's friend had been smoking."

"And I don't think she's on a crash diet, we both saw her eat tonight," he said while pulling Elizabeth into his arms.

"I'm sure she is just stressed. This house has been a little hectic here lately and she is just probably trying to figure out a way to deal with everything," he continued.

"Do you think we should take her to a medical doctor or psychiatrist?" she asked turning to him.

Henry paused for a moment thinking. "No, you asked her if she needed to talk, and I feel that if she feels that she needs to see someone, she will let us know. Let's wait for a few days and just see how she's doing."

"How does that sound?" he said pulling away to look at her face.

"I think it sounds like a plan that I can work with," she responded with a kiss to his lips.

Allison's POV-

Her mom had to know something was up. Not specifically what is was, even Allison herself didn't know what was going on with herself. She just knew that her clothes weren't fitting right anymore, she was always tired, and this morning during her history presentation Jessie had to take over because she suddenly couldn't see the screen. She was fine one moment, and the next the letters became a blurry mess. After class the blurriness went away. Allison just hoped it stayed that way. Maybe she just needed glasses… glasses wouldn't be so bad. Both of her parents had glasses and as soon as she got them she would be as good as new.

"Hey dad, can I ask you something really quick?" Allison asked.

Her dad looked up from his computer.

"Sure Noodle, what do you need?" he asked.

"Well, I think that I might need glasses," she started. "And, I was hoping if you had time today, if you could take me to the eye doctors." She finished.

She hoped he would have time today. She didn't want to bother him. He always had so much work to do. There was a reason she had gone to her dad and not her mom who was sitting in the other room reading a book. She didn't want to be a bother to either of them, but since her mom rarely had days off, she decided it would be better to ask her dad.

"Honey, what makes you think that you need glasses?" he asked concerned. He took off his own glasses and set the down on the table.  
"I've been having a little trouble seeing the screen at school."

Her dad looked at her for a second before responding. "Of course I can take you Noodle," he began. "Give me ten minutes to save the documents I'm working on and I'll grab my keys."

"Thanks Dad. I'll go grab my coat." Allison said and headed upstairs.

Elizabeth's POV-

"Finish your chapter already?" Elizabeth said putting down her cup of tea. Henry had been complaining just last night how long it was going to take him to finish his next chapter.

"No, I'm taking a break," he said hanging over the back of the couch. "Allison wants me to take her to get her eye's checked." He said.  
Elizabeth's face must have shown intrigue because Henry continued without question.

"She said that she has been having trouble seeing the board at school."

"Maybe this is what has been bothering her for a while," Elizabeth said excitedly.

"Hopefully. I will let you know all about it when we get back," Henry said as he kissed her cheek.

Allison POV-

"Sorry about having you take me all way there for nothing." Allison said to her dad as she stepped through the front door. "I really thought that I was having trouble seeing but it was probably just an eyelash or something in my eye." Allison continued walking towards the stairs.

"Not a problem Noodle." Henry said going towards the kitchen; "I'll call you down when dinner's ready," he continued.

Allison headed upstairs, 'now she had no idea what was wrong with her', she thought. Although she had told her dad that she must've been mistaken about her eyesight; she knew she was having trouble with it. The eye doctor had said her eyes were perfect and now she didn't know what to do next.

Elizabeth POV-

"Warning, I'm making dinner tonight, so be prepared to order a pizza if it goes as usual," she said jokingly.

"Duly noted," her husband said in response. She felt his familiar arms wrap around her from behind.

"How'd everything go at the eye doctors? Are Allison's eyes as bad as yours?" she said turning around to face him.

"Actually, Allison's eyes were perfectly fine. The doctor said her eyes were 20/20," he responded.  
He reached over and grabbed the ladle to taste test the food.

"What exactly are you trying to make?" he said jokingly. "It smells like meatloaf, but tastes like spaghetti."

"Woah, what do you mean the eye doctor said her eyes are perfect? Didn't you say she was having trouble seeing in school? That's not something Allison would make up for attention or miscalculate," she said concernedly.

"I don't know what to say hun, that's what the doctor said."

She hopped onto the counter, one of her favorite places to sit.

"I still think something is up with her. She doesn't seem right and this just makes things weirder," she said placing her hands on Henry's shoulders. He didn't seem as concerned.

"Maybe you should just go up and talk to her instead of doing that spy-crafting thing the kids are always accusing you of."

Elizabeth smiled. "That would be the simplest solution; wouldn't it?" she said and he nodded in agreement.

"Dinner smells to be about done, I think..." Henry said. "I'll call the kids."

Next day  
Allison POV-

She felt absolutely terrible. Her stomach hurt but she pulled herself out of bed anyway. Over dinner last night, they all were talking about how her mom used to burn cookies anytime they had bake sales at school. They decided to make some today but everyone else had already made plans, so Allison and her mom had agreed to try and bake some.

Her dad and Jason were going out to the park to practice stupid football drills and Stevie was meeting her study group at the library.

She honestly just wanted to lay in bed all day but she couldn't remember a time when she spent quality time with her mom, just the two of them.

"Hey mom, ready to get our Betty Crocker on?" she said to her mom. Her mom was rifling through the pantry.

"Well I would say yes, but it appears that we are all out of sugar," she said with a guilty look on her face.

"What?!" Allison exclaimed. "How could we be out of sugar?"

"I think your dad finished off the last of it in his coffee this morning."

Allison gave her mom her biggest death stare, "Hey don't look at me, I only take cream in my coffee." Her mom said putting her hands up in the air.  
"I'll just go down to the store and grab some, and I'll get some cinnamon too and we can make snickerdoodles. You're favorite." Her mom said heading to the front door and grabbing her purse.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Allison asked.

"No, I'll be back in about 5 minutes. Can you just look up the recipe so we try not to butcher the cookies this time."

As soon as her mom left, Allison headed upstairs to look up the recipe. Hopefully with her help, she could prevent her mother from ruining the cookies.

After the recipe was printed, she laid down on her bed. She really felt terrible. She already had a stomach ache, and now her head was starting to pound.

She was going to have to tell her mom. Right now, she felt so terrible that the thought of causing her mom more stress didn't matter. She had never felt like this before and it had lasted too long to ignore it anymore. When her mom returned, she would tell her everything.

She heard an engine outside, she got up slowly to look out the window. A wave of dizziness caused her to have to reach for the wall to stabilize herself. As the room stopped it's spinning, she glanced out the window and saw her mom climbing out of her SUV. She slowly turned around and started walking towards the door. Her dizziness came flooding back and she reached for the door. With her hand grabbing only air, she felt herself falling forward but didn't notice hitting the floor.

Elizabeth POV-

The trip to the grocery store had taken longer than she planned. She had just grabbed the cinnamon and sugar and was headed towards the checkout line when a large group of college students had come up to her asking for an autograph. Although Allison was waiting at home, she didn't want to be rude. The media would be in uproar and Daisy would have a field day. She could see the headlines now, "Secretary McCord rebuffs collegiate interested in foreign and domestic affairs.'

She spent about ten minutes signing autographs before she was finally able to purchase her items and head home.

She was hoping that today would allow Allison to confide in her about what was bothering her. She missed her Noodle. It had been so long since the two of them had actually had a discussion that didn't involve her on the news. She was afraid that sometimes Allison felt ignored. It was a common problem with the middle child. Stevie had always required a lot of attention. Since dropping out of school and dating her boss; Stevie had been at the center of her and Henry's parenting focus. Jason, being the only boy and the anarchist of the family had also required a lot of attention. He seemed to have settled down for now and thankfully had managed to keep himself out of trouble, sans the fight at school and the transferring to public school.

Finally arriving back home she headed to the kitchen. "Alright Noodle, we are all set to bake," she said as she grabbed the measuring cups and bowls from the cabinets.

"Aly, did you find the recipe?" she yelled at the bottom of the stairs.

Not receiving any reply, she headed up the stairs. Seeing Allison's door closed, she quickly knocked and pushed open the door.

"Allison!" she yelled. Her daughter was laying on the floor unconsciousness.

"Allison!" she yelled again. "Can you hear me?"

She rolled her over onto her back and checked for a pulse. 'Please find one. Please find one,' she pleaded to herself.

Feeling one, she ran downstairs. She could easily grab her cellphone and call 911, but she knew grabbing her security detail would allow her to get to the hospital faster.  
"Frank!" she said ripping the front door open.

"Madam Secretary?" he asked concerned. Her face was pale white and she had a scared expression.

"Allison, she's unconscious. I need your help to get her to the car. She's needs to get to the hospital." She said forcefully. She practically yelled at him. She honestly didn't know if she made any sense at all. Before she could say it again. Frank ran inside the house.

"She's upstairs." She said following after him.

He took the stairs two at a time and by the time she had made it to the top of the stairs, he had already pick up Allison and had turned around and was heading towards the stairs again.

"We'll get her to the hospital in no time Ma'am." He said trying to reassure her.

She couldn't even comprehend him enough to generate a response. All she knew was that her little girl was unconscious and she didn't know why. Maybe she could have prevented this if only she would've talked to Allison sooner.

Suddenly, she was being helped into the back of an SUV and was now holding Allison's head in her lap. 'How could I have let this happen?' she thought.

She should have been a better mom. She should have asked more questions. Should have paid more attention.

Henry, she thought. She needed to call him. Realizing she forgot her phone and purse on the kitchen counter, she turned to Frank.

"Frank, do you have your phone? I need to call Henry," she said with a quivering voice. She touched her face and felt wetness on her fingers. 'How long had she been crying?' she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted.  
"Ma'am we've already dispatched a team who are going to retrieve Dr. McCord and have him meet us at the hospital," he said calmly.

She turned her eyes towards her daughters face again and placed her fingers on her neck. Finding a steady pulse was the only thing that was preventing her from completely breaking down with worry.

It felt like forever, but they finally reached the hospital entrance and Frank was carrying Allison out of the SUV. Scrambling after him, she saw her daughter being placed on a gurney which was being pushed by the medical staff that had suddenly surrounded her daughter.

"What happened?" she heard a doctor yell out.

"I found her unconscious about ten minutes ago."

"Does she have any medical issues or on any medication?" he asked.  
"No."

"How old is she and is she allergic to any medications?"

"She 16 and she's allergic to Penicillin," she heard herself say. She couldn't stop staring at her daughter lying on the stretcher. She suddenly didn't look 16, but instead looked like the little girl who used to trip over everything while dragging her favorite teddy bear around. 'When had she grown up' she thought to herself.

"Ma'am!" she heard, pulling her out of thoughts.

"Is there any chance your daughter may be using drugs?" the doctor asked seriously.

"Absolutely not. Allison would never use drugs. Never." She said forcefully. 'How could this guy even think that,' she thought.

"Has she been complaining of any weird symptoms lately?"

"I know that she was complaining about her eyes. My husband took her to the doctor's office yesterday, but the doctor said her eyesight was perfect. She's also lost a little weight lately" She said.

"Alright, well we are going to take Allison into the back and run some tests. Either myself or someone else will come and talk to you as soon as we know anything." He said and turned away.

She somehow found herself sitting in the waiting area and was trying to answer the insurance forms the nurse had given to her after the doctor had left.

'How was she supposed to concentrate when her daughter was having tests performed?' she thought to herself.

She put down the papers and began to pace the room. Her security had arranged for her to wait in a private room. It wasn't anything special, it had greyish blue walls, uncomfortable chairs, and old magazines. She stopped at the large window that overlooked the city. How was life going on when she suddenly felt as if her world was ending? She knew she shouldn't overreact, but how could she not? She had absolutely no idea what was wrong with her daughter and that terrified her. Without the steady heartbeat that she felt in Allison's neck; it would look like her daughter was dead. At this thought, she broke down. Her head fell to her chest and her body shook with sobs.

Her head flew up with the sound of the door opening. Instead of the doctor, it was the face of her husband that greeted her.

She wasted no time getting to him and was wrapping her arms around him before he could say anything.

"What happened?" he said as he pulled away from his wife. She felt his hand on the small of her back guiding her to a chair.

"I don't know what happened." She said quickly. "We were going to bake cookies like we talked about last night, but I realized we were out of sugar. I went to market to get some. I was gone for only twenty, thirty minutes; tops." She said looking into his eyes with desperation.

She continued. "When I got back home I called out for her and she never responded. And when I went upstairs to check of her I found her." She began to choke up but kept going.

"I tried waking her up but she didn't respond at all. I swear I thought she was dead at first" she said through tears. "I checked that she had a pulse and when I found one I ran downstairs and had Frank help me carry her to the car," she finally finished placing her head on Henry's shoulder.

"How long have you guys been here?" she heard Henry ask.

"I don't know, it feels like hours but I think it's only been twenty minutes."

"What do you think it is?" she asked looking up at him.

"I don't know honey. I think we are just going to have to wait for the doctors to get back to us." Henry said as he wrapped her back up in his arms.

Allison POV-

Allison opened her eyes. Her head hurt and her throat was dry. Looking across the room, she noticed it was dark out. Moonlight streamed in through the blinds. She was in a hospital bed. 'What happened to me?' she thought as she continued to glance around the room.

A small alarm clock on the side table told her it was 2:43 a.m. The next thing her eyes saw broke her heart. Her dad sat on the couch, eyes closed. And her mom, leaning against him with her eyes closed as well. 'How could they be sleeping but still manage to look worried?' she thought.

She didn't know whether to wake them or to leave them be. She didn't know what was wrong with her, but it had to be bad if she was in the hospital.

'Why didn't I tell them something was wrong sooner?' she thought to herself. She might've been able to prevent this.

Her headache got worse and she moaned without thinking. She saw her mom's eyes flutter open and look up at her. Her mom jolted upright, waking her dad in the process and the two of them were by her bedside in moments.

"Honey, can you hear me?" she heard her mom say.  
Her mom looked so sad. Her mom had bags under her eyes and tears in her eyes, her clothes were all wrinkled, and her hair was a mess. She felt her mom's hand grab onto hers and squeeze.

She wanted to respond but wasn't able to make her voice work and only managed another moan and squeezed her mom's hand in return.

"I'll go get the doctor," she heard her dad say.

"Noodle, you're in the hospital, you've been here for about two days," her mom continued looking from their entwined hands to her face.

'Two days!' she thought. 'How could she have been unconscious for two days!' she mentally screamed at herself. Her heart began to beat quickly and she began grasping for breath.

She felt her mom stroke her hair, "Aly, calm down. You're going to be okay. Everything is okay." She heard her mom say. After about five minutes of her mom's soothing voice and the stroking of her hair, she finally relaxed just as her dad entered the room again with a woman. The woman turned on the lights and approached her.

"Allison," she heard the woman address her.

She turned her eyes away from her mom.

"I'm Dr. Miller. Can you tell me your last name?" she asked while shining a light in her eyes.

"Mmmm," she mumbled. She couldn't form the word, 'What was wrong with her?'

She moved her eyes to her mom and dad and could see the worried looks on their faces.

"Okay, Allison. Good try. Why don't you try and get some rest while I talk with your folks." Dr. Miller said.

She felt her mom's hand begin to slip away from hers. Before her hand was completely gone, she reached for it pulling it back down while groaning. Before they left, she needed something for her head, it felt like it was going to explode.

"Honey, what's wrong?" her mom asked.

She didn't respond vocally but just took her free hand and moved it towards her forehead.

"Does your head hurt?" asked Dr. Miller.

Allison nodded.

"I'm going to send in a nurse with some pain medication to get rid of that headache of yours okay," said Dr. Miller.

Soon her parents and Dr. Miller were gone and a nurse was injecting something in her IV. She fell asleep before her parents came back in the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you sooooo much for the reviews; they really gave me the confidence to keep going with this story.**

 **Here's another chapter- a little shorter than I planned but I wanted to get it up here.**

Allison POV-

Her eyes fluttered open. Her head felt better and this time instead of darkness, she was greeted with sunlight streaming in from the windows. 'How long had she been here,' she thought. When she saw her mom last, she had been here for two days. 'How much time had passed between then and now?' she wondered. She swept the rest of the room with her eyes and saw that her parents were in a similar position as she found them previously. Instead of sleeping, her dad appeared to be reading, his glasses at the end of his nose. Her mom was staring at the ceiling. It was probably the only time she had ever seen her mom just staring into space. Her mom had always been too busy to take time and relax. It was odd to see her mom just sitting there without at least a book in her hands to occupy her mind.

"Mom," she said quietly, her voice raspy.

Like before, her mom quickly turned her eyes from the ceiling to Allison laying in her bed and hurried over to her bed.

"Ali," her mom said softly pulling Allison's hand into both of her own. Her mom's hands felt warm compared to her own. Allison reached down and pulled the blankets up to her chin. Her mom continued, "How are you feeling?" Her mom's eyes looked tired. Kind of like when she stayed at the office for a few days on the couch.

"I feel… okay," she heard herself say. "What happened?"

"What is the last thing you remember?" her dad asked as his hand stroked her hair. Her dad used to the same thing when she stayed home sick from school. He would sit with her on the couch stroking her hair while they watched cartoons. She missed those days.

"Mom and I were going to bake cookies. She went to the market to get something.." she trailed off, blanking on what occurred next.

"Honey," her mom said, "I came home from the market and found you unconsciousness in your room. Do you remember any of that?" she asked.

She shook her head. "I think I remember I didn't really feel well; but I don't remember anything else."

She looked up at her parents. "How long have I been here?" she asked looking at both of her parents. "I remember I woke up here and you told me I had been here for two days. How could that be possible?" she said getting a little nervous.

Her parents look at each other, "I'm going to go get Dr. Miller," her dad said and like the night before he was quickly out of the door looking for the doctor.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked, worried about what is could possibly be.

"Am I dying, do I have cancer?" she continued looking up at her mother for answers.

"No honey," her mother said quickly. Her mom bent down and kissed her head. "You aren't dying and you don't have cancer. The doctor will be the best person to answer all of your questions so why don't we wait till your dad gets back with Dr. Miller," she finished. Her mom sat down on the side of the bed and Allison scooted over a little to make more room for her.

"Where's Stevie and Jase?" she asked her mom.

"They're both at school today. They wanted to be here for you, but we convinced them to go to school," her mom said. "I think Jason just wanted to get out of a math test today." She said jokingly getting a small smile from Allison.

Just then, Dr. Miller and her dad came back into the room.

"Hi, Allison. How are you feeling today?"

"I'm feeling okay. What's wrong with me?" she asked the doctor, not wanting to deal with small talk.

Dr. Miller took her vitals, when she was done she finally answered.

"Well, Allison when you were brought about three days ago you were in something called diabetic ketoacidosis which was brought on by severely high blood sugar. What happened was your pancreas was not producing enough insulin to turn glucose into energy. To fight this, the liver produces ketones which can be used to produce energy. But the large amount of ketones in your blood caused it to turn acidic which caused you to fall into a diabetic coma," Dr. Miller said never taking her eyes off of Allison. "I know this is a lot of information, do you have questions?"

"So I'm diabetic?" she asked, "but I'm not overweight," she finished confused.

"You have what is called Type 1 Diabetes, which is not caused by weight or diet. It's just something that people can develop."

Allison looked at her parents, "Why was I unable to speak the other night?" she asked.

"That was due to the severe dehydration that usually always accompanies ketoacidosis," she answered. "We've had you on an IV since you were admitted and all of your levels are back to normal," she finished.

"The next step for you Allison is for you to see your primary pediatrician. Luckily her office is on the other side of the building and she's going to stop by later to talk to you and your parents about how to begin managing your diabetes."

"When can I go home?" she asked. She was eager to get home and get everything back to normal.

"Well I'd like to monitor your glucose levels and that you're staying hydrated, so it will probably be a few days before you get out of here," she finished.

"If you have any more questions or concerns, don't hesitate to have the nurse page me," she said as she made her way to the door.

"Thanks again doctor," her dad said to her as she left.

"So Noodle, how are you doing?" her dad asked her as he pulled up a chair.

"I don't even know how to process all of this," she said. Tears had began to form in her eyes. She tried to shake them away. "I feel so stupid for not telling you guys soon," she continued.

"Honey, why didn't you come to us if you weren't feeling well?" Her mom asked.

She was about to make up an excuse when she realized that lying and hiding things is what caused this whole mess. "I didn't want to bother you both. You guys are always so busy and always so stressed!" she exclaimed. "It just seemed like I would have added onto your stress and I didn't want to do that."

She looked up at her parents and she slightly regretted being honest with them. Looks of pure guilt were on their faces.

"Oh Noodle," her mom started. Allison watched as instead of finishing her thoughts, she put her head into her hands and started to softly cry.

"Mom! Please don't cry. I'm sorry. It was my fault, I should've noticed that my symptoms were more serious!" she said trying to get her mom to stop crying. This was not what she wanted to happen.

Her dad continued, "Aly, it's not your job to worry about your mom and I. It's our job as your parents to worry about you. You should have come to us as soon as you started feeling bad," he said looking into her eyes. "You have to promise us that moving forward you will let us know if you aren't feeling well so we can take you to the doctors. Okay?" he asked. "Diabetes is a serious issue and we need to make sure you stay healthy. We don't want a repeat performance of this hospital stay," he finished.

"I promise I'll let you know guys know how I'm feeling," she said.

"We love you so much Noodle and we don't want anything like this to happen to you again," her mom said. Her mom stood up and wrapped her arms around her. "I love you," she whispered again into her ear.

"Love you too Mom," she replied.

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I don't personally suffer from Diabetes and had to do some research regarding the disease- I hope I didn't misinterpret the signs and symptoms... if I did please let me know in the comments.**

 **If you liked it, review. If you didn't like it, review.**

 **Next chapter should be up soon as I already have an idea of where I want the story to go.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the new chapter- I hope you all enjoy it! :)**

Elizabeth POV-

'How could she have been so blind,' she thought, waiting for Henry. He had just gone to get them some coffee and Allison was currently sleeping. She fell asleep shortly after meeting with the pediatrician and being force-fed bad hospital food. She leaned back onto the couch. This couch had become very familiar to her over the last few days as she had barely left Allison's side since she was admitted.

Two Days Prior

She and Henry had waited in that waiting room for another fifteen minutes before being joined by Stevie and Jase. And together they all waited until the doctor came out to tell them the news. Dr. Miller told them Allison's glucose levels were extremely high and that she would remain in a coma until they could bring it down. Dr. Miller had sat with them and told them about the symptoms that Allison should've experienced. As soon as Dr. Miller listed the symptoms, she filled with dread. She recalled every small mention that Allison made about not being hungry, seeing Allison drink a lot more water than she used to, and of course when Allison came to them regarding her vision; and she didn't pay attention enough to put all of those moments together and take Allison to the doctor. 'How could I have been so stupid!?' she screamed to herself. She wasn't the only one who felt guilty. Not only had Henry blamed himself, but both Jason and Stevie thought they should've notice something.

After seeing the doctor, Elizabeth had called Blake and instructed him to clear her schedule for the next day telling him she had a family emergency. She received a phone call hours later from Daisy telling her that people had reported seeing Elizabeth arrive at the hospital and the press had since starting speculating on what was going on. Daisy wanted a comment to release to the press but Elizabeth's world felt like it was unraveling and not knowing how to respond, just hung up the phone.

The four of them were brought to Allison's room where they just had to sit and wait for her to wake.

Yesterday

The second day of waiting had been worse. With no response from Allison for about twelve hours, more tests had been ordered to check for renal and brain function. Waiting for those results made her feel like she was in a fog. She didn't respond to anyone, not even Henry. She just sat by Allison's bedside and waited. It was weird, watching Allison lay in that bed, every once in a while, if she ignored the large amount of wires connected to her, Allison just looked like she was sleeping. She hadn't slept or eaten anything since before everything happened. She found out later Henry had called the office and President Dalton and informed them what had been going on. Once the results came back that renal and brain function were normal, she finally felt like she could take a breath.

Towards the end of the day, she and Henry had told Jason and Stevie that they should return to school the following day. They both argued with her wanting to stay with Allison, but had complied when she assured them that if anything were to happen, they would be told. They didn't know how much longer Allison would be unconscious and they needed to get back into a routine. Because she had influenced them to get back into a routine, Henry had gotten her to agree to at least go home, shower, and get something to eat and when she returned, he would do the same.

Her security detail had driven her home like always and when she arrived she noticed the sugar and cinnamon were still sitting on the kitchen counter. She ignored the groceries and made her way upstairs. On her way to her bedroom, she passed Allison's room. She stopped just briefly to look inside, closed the door, and continued to her bedroom to shower and change.

She returned to the hospital thirty minutes later and switched with Henry. When he returned, the two of them made their way down to the cafeteria. As they were purchasing questionable-looking sandwiches, newspapers and magazines with her face on them were stocked at the register. They suggested absurd ideas like she was getting plastic surgery, she was having a secret love-child, or she was having an affair with a doctor. She couldn't believe the audacity reporters had. The two of them just ignored the reports and went back to Allison's room trying to put it out of their minds. Stevie and Jason had seen the reports on their phones but kept their anger about it to themselves so as to not to bother her. She was grateful for this, it was easier to pretend they didn't exist.

Allison had woken up briefly that night and she had been so relieved to see her awake. When her daughter had attempted to speak and was unsuccessful, she had feared that the brain function test results were wrong. And after seeing Allison's reaction to how long she had been in the hospital, she just held onto her daughter willing her to calm down and praying that everything would work out alright.

After speaking with Dr. Miller that night, her and Henry had returned to see Allison already asleep at which time she had scooted in bed next to her and fallen asleep herself.

Today

Waking in the morning, Elizabeth decided to finally go into the office and talk to her team. She knew that even if her personal life was on hold, world affairs hadn't stopped. So at 8:00 in the morning, she found herself walking towards her office before the majority of the staff was there. She hadn't even bothered to change from the jeans she had changed into the day before and found Blake sitting at his desk per usual.

"Madam Secretary, I wasn't expecting you. How is Allison doing?" he asked standing up from this chair and following her into her office.

"She woke up briefly last night but was sedated soon after. We are still waiting for her to wake up long enough to verify brain function," she said trying not to cry. "I just came in to see if there was anything pressing that I need to be aware of or need to deal with," she said sitting behind her desk.

"Well Ma'am, the office has been receiving some calls regarding Canada's request for assistance obtaining oil in the Middle East. It's nothing of an urgent matter and can hold off until you've returned. Otherwise, the office has been very quiet," he said. "And please know Ma'am everyone in the office is praying for Allison and your family."

"Thank you Blake, I appreciate that. I'm going to take the budget edits that needed to be reviewed with me and try to get some reading done at the hospital," she said collecting her things. "I will try to follow up with the staff again soon." On her way out the door, she was greeted by Nadine who also relayed comments of sympathy and prayer for their family.

She had returned to the hospital and attempted to get some reading done but couldn't concentrate. She had just been staring at the ceiling, lost in thought when she felt eyes watching her. She looked up and saw Allison had woken up again. She was overjoyed when Allison was able to speak and respond normally. At that moment, she felt that she was finally able to breathe. But she was now experiencing a large amount of guilt for not noticing the symptoms sooner and she was slightly worried for how much all of their lives were going to change. She knew it was going to be tough to start but together they would all be able to figure out how to live with Allison's diabetes. She was going to have to be vigilant of what meals were being made and how much exercise Allison was getting, not be mention being sure she was taking checking her blood sugar levels and taking her insulin.

Henry returned with coffee and the two of them just sat in silence waiting for Stevie and Jason to arrive. It was already 3:15 and they should've already been on their way to the hospital. Henry broke silence, "How are you doing honey?" he asked, rubbing his hand in circles on her back.

"I don't even know," she said shaking her head. "I just keep replaying over in my mind about all of the times I missed the signs that were so evident but I was just too busy to notice."

"Honey, I feel the same way, but we can't blame ourselves. We had no idea that this was going to happen."

"No Henry," she said in an angered whisper. "I'm her mother! I should've paid more attention!"

She got up and starting pacing in small circles. "I used to be a CIA analyst for God sakes, I was trained to pay extra attention. And, besides not paying attention, instead of being available to her, I was so preoccupied with the stress of work Allison felt that she couldn't come to me. When the hell did my job as Secretary of State become more important than my job as a mother!" she said breaking down into tears.

Henry got up from his seat and sat her down on the couch. "Okay, first of all. We are both doing the best that we can and Allison knows this. She knows how important your job is and that sometimes you aren't able to be home. This was just something horrible that happened. You are going to need to get rid of this guilt that you have, otherwise moving forward, I don't think we'll be able to give Allison the best help and care that she needs."

Henry pulled her into a hug. "I was so scared," she said crying into his shoulder.

"I know babe, I was too." He said finally letting himself cry as well.

Allison POV-

When she woke up again after lunch, Stevie and Jason had arrived and were watching television. Jason had just changed the channel when she spoke up, "Hey, I was watching that," she said jokingly. All four of them turned around. "Of course she wakes up as soon as I turn off Project Runway," Jason said. "Well of course, it's the best show," she said sitting up in bed.

"Hey you guys, when did you get here?' she asked them.

"We got here about 30 minutes ago," Stevie said moving to stand by Allison's bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay. Definitely better than before. I'm sorry I freaked you guys out. I should've told someone I wasn't feeling well, I could've prevented all of this," Allison said to her siblings.

"We are just really glad that you are awake and feeling better," Stevie said.

"When are they going to let you out of here?" Jason asked.

Not knowing the answer, she turned to her parents to see if they knew. "I'm not sure yet. Mom, dad, do you know when Dr. Miller will let me go home?"

"Well your pediatrician wants to meet with you again just to go over the injection routine once more and after that you'll be clear to go" her dad said.

"Thank goodness, despite all the sleep I got, all I want to do is go home and sleep in my own bed."

Elizabeth POV-

It was just about 5:00 in the evening when they got home. Walking into the door, Stevie and Jason disbursed into their rooms leaving the three of them to get adjusted into normal life again.

"Ali, are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?" she asked following Henry and Ali into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm starved," Allison replied.

"Are you in the mood for something in particular?" Henry asked her, opening the fridge.

Before she could answer, Henry spoke up, "Sorry, I spoke to soon, the fridge is empty so I'm calling it a pizza night."

"Is that okay with the two of you?"

Getting a positive reply from both of them, Henry went to make the call for pizza.

"So honey, how are you doing?" she said walking with her daughter and sitting at the table.

"I'm glad to be home. I just want everything to get back to normal," Ali said.  
"Well, I don't think anyone's lives are going to be normal until we all get accustomed to your diabetes," she said. "We are really going to need to pay attention to your diet and your levels. Don't forget we are also going to need to monitor how much exercise you're getting and if you get sick at all." She stopped when she saw Allison's face. She looked overwhelmed.

"Mom, I know all of this. And I promise, I will not ignore any weird feelings that I'm having and I will be sure to constantly check my glucose levels," Allison said. "I'm really sorry mom. I put you all through a lot which is exactly what I didn't want to do when I didn't tell you how I felt to begin with. It's not even just having to be with me in the hospital, I saw some of the articles online suggesting really stupid ideas of why you were at the hospital and why you cleared your schedule at work. I'm truly sorry mom. Really!" Allison's voice and face showed guilt.

"It is not your job to worry about what your dad and I can deal with, nor is it your job to worry about my job. From now on, I want your only focus to be on being a 16 year old and handling your diabetes. Don't worry about those articles, we know the truth and that's all that matters. Okay?"

Allison nodded her head in understanding.

"Now shall we go stop your dad before he puts anchovies on the pizza again?" she asked getting up from the table.

"Definitely, that was absolutely disgusting!"

 **I hope you guys are liking this story- I haven't received much feedback- so if you have any comments (good or bad), please let me know.**


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